Title: leveraging cooperative extension to build an enduring capacity for equitable and inclusive resilience in rural agricultural communities across coastal virginia, maryland, and delaware…

This federal Cooperative Agreement award, totaling $1,973,267, was granted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through its Office for Coastal Management (CFDA 11.473) program. The purpose of the award is to establish a regional collaborative to support climate resilience in rural agricultural communities across coastal Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.

Led by Virginia Tech University, the project will conduct a needs assessment and community listening sessions to identify current capabilities, challenges, and opportunities to increase climate resilience, particularly in low-income, minority, and agricultural communities. Educational programming will then be designed and implemented to help address these challenges. The project aims to build enduring capacity among extension professionals and rural localities to initiate climate adaptation and resilience projects more effectively and engage with resilience-building efforts more broadly.

The award includes sub-grants to Virginia State University, Delaware State University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to support the regional collaborative and deliver educational services within their respective communities.

Title: leveraging cooperative extension to build an enduring capacity for equitable and inclusive resilience in rural agricultural communities across coastal virginia, maryland, and delaware recipient: biological systems engineering, virginia tech university project type: regional collaborative building and strategy development (track one) funding amount: $1,973,267 congressional districts: VA-1, VA-2, VA-3, VA-4, MD-1, MD-5, DE-1 summary: this project will establish a regional collaborative to support climate resilience in rural communities in the delmarva region, where agriculture plays a key role in the local economy and culture. Project partners will conduct a needs assessment and a series of community listening sessions to identify current capabilities, challenges, and opportunities to increase resilience, particularly in low-income, minority, and agricultural communities. The project will then design and implement educational programming to help address these challenges. Led by the virginia polytechnic institute and state university, this project will create enduring capacity among extension professionals and rural localities to initiate climate adaptation and resilience projects more effectively and engage with resilience-building efforts more broadly.